Composition Management Interfaces for a Predictable Assembly

Abstract

Software system construction based on the reuse of software components has to be done with flexibility enough to control the desired behavior of the resulting assemblies. Applications created by component composition usually depend on a strict method of construction in which COTS or in-house components are only integrated with great difficulty. Actually, reliable assemblies result from being able to observe the inner workings of components and from getting an in-depth understanding of them. The need for fine-grained tailoring and adequate setups is also therefore essential. To enhance the usability, the interoperability and the runtime adaptability of components, composition management interfaces are proposed. They aim at preparing and guiding composition by exposing information about components’ inners (states and transitions), which in turn allow for the making of rules that formalize appropriate composition conditions. Finally, state-based expressions for composition are built on a set of primitives discussed in the paper.